T. J. Potter

The T.J. Potter, commonly referred to as the Potter, was named after first the vice president of the Union Pacific Railroad's operations in the west. She was built entirely of wood by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, owned by John F. Steffan. She was built for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.Affleck, Edward L., A Century of Paddlewheelers in the Pacific Northwest, the Yukon, and Alaska, page 26, Vancouver, B.C., Alexander Nicolls Press (2000) {{ISBN|978-0-920034-08-8}}. She was launched at Portland, Oregon in 1888. She was propelled by two non-condensing steam engines, with 32" cylinders, each with an eight-foot stroke, and generating (together or singly is not certain) 1,700 horsepower. Her single boiler and firebox were built in 1887 by the Pusey & Jones Company, of Wilmington, Delaware. The boiler was {{convert|32|ft|m}} long with a diameter of {{convert|84|in|mm}}. Her gross tonnage was 659 and her net tonnage was 589. As built, the Potter was {{convert|230|ft|m}} long, with a beam of {{convert|35|ft|m}}, and depth of hold of 10{{frac|1|2}} feet.[http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/scripts/Page.asp?PageID=1872 Maritime History of the Great Lakes (includes information on non-Great Lakes boats, including sketches and specifications of T.J. Potter).] Accessed 2014-07-31. Her U.S. registry number was 145489.

Construction of the Potter was supervised by Capt. James William Troup, one of the most famous steamboat captains in the West, as well as the owner of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, the builders of the T. J. Potter. On May 26, 1888, the same year the Potter was built, Captain Troup had brought the sternwheeler Hassalo over a six-mile (10 km) stretch of rapids called the Cascades of the Columbia during low water, reaching speeds of {{convert|50|mi|km}} an hour in the process.O'Neil, Paul, The Rivermen, pages 138-39, Time-Life Books, Chicago, IL (1975) {{ISBN|978-0-8094-1498-7}}.

When built, the Potter had a reputation as one of the fastest and most luxurious steamboats in the Pacific Northwest:

{{Cquote|[T]he T.J. Potter was the final step in the evolution of the side-wheeler—230 feet long, {{convert|33|ft|m}} beam, with grace and beauty in every inch of her. The T. J. Potter was intended to be the last word in the elegance then incorporated into steamboat design. Even the paddle-wheels were decorated with intricate designs. Where those of the lesser side-wheelers were pierced by simple fan designs, hers were jigsawed into an intricate floral pattern that made them works of Victorian art. A divided, curving staircase led up to the grand saloon, and her passengers could observe themselves ascending it in the plate glass mirror, which was the largest in that part of the West. Colored sunlight from the stained glass windows of the clerestory gleamed on soft carpeting and the mellowed wood and ivory of a grand piano.Newell, Gordon R., Ships of the Inland Sea - The Story of the Puget Sound Steamboats, page 111, Portland, OR, Binford & Mort 1960}}

The first season after she was launched, her owners put her on the tourist run from Portland to Astoria, Oregon. In August 1888, the Potter made the run from Portland to Astoria in 5 hours and 31 minutes. By comparison, the fastest steamboat on the Columbia River at that time was the Potter's competitor Telephone, which on July 2, 1887, had made the {{convert|105|mi|km|adj=on}} run from Portland to Astoria in 4 hours and 34 minutes.Timmen, Franz: Blow for the Landing, A Hundred Years of Steam Navigation on the Waters of the West, at 50, 133, 139-40, and 174, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, ID 1973 {{ISBN|978-0-87004-221-8}}. Fares were $2.50 to Astoria and $3.00 to Ilwaco, Washington. Discounts were offered for the roundtrip. Lower berths cost $.75 and a single berth cost $.50. All meals also cost $.50.

Image:North Pacific and TJ Potter (steamboats), Seattle, 1891.JPG

After that, she was transferred to Puget Sound to compete with another famous steamboat, the Bailey Gatzert, which was owned by the Seattle Steam Navigation and Transportation Company. The Bailey was a stern-wheeler, and did better in the Sound than the sidewheeler Potter, which rolled from side to side in swells, raising first one paddle wheel then the other out of the water.

Even so, the T.J. Potter was one of the fastest steamboats on Puget Sound, and is reported in 1890 to have bested the famous sternwheeler Bailey Gatzert in a race. The Potter was also reported to have set a record time of 82 minutes on the run from Seattle to Tacoma.Newell, Gordon, and Williamson, Joe, Pacific Steamboats, page 28, Superior Publishing, New York, NY (1958) While operating out of Puget Sound, the Potter, along with many other local steamboats, helped fight the Great Seattle Fire of 1889:

{{cquote|The mighty T.J. Potter foamed up from Vancouver Island with a Canadian fire engine, the chief of the Victoria fire department, and 22 firemen. Fire was licking the docks so the Victoria fire company went to work where it landed.}}

Eventually the Potter was transferred back to the Columbia River for good. She was placed on the Portland-Astoria run, where she competed with steamboats owned by the Shaver Transportation Company. The Potter's owners, Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, struck an anti-competitive deal with Shaver Transportation, whereby the Shaver boats, including the Sarah Dixon, would stay off the Portland-Astoria route in return for a monthly subsidy from Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. Other competitors of the Potter on the Portland-Astoria run included Lurline and Georgiana.

In 1901, Joe Turner was the captain of the T.J. Potter. Other crew at apparently the same time, but whose positions are uncertain, included Al Gray (Faber, cited below, identifies Gray as captain), Julius Oliver, James Healey, Harry O. Staples, Ed Scott, Fred Ware, Claude Cooper, Wendell Smith, and Henry Hoffman.

Image:TJ Potter (steamboat) 1901.jpg

In 1901 the Potter was rebuilt, increasing her length by only a few feet but greatly increasing her weight. Her gross tonnage rose from 650 to 1017 tons, and her net tonnage from 590 to 826.Mills, Randall V., Stern-wheelers up Columbia -- A Century of Steamboating in the Oregon Country, page 201, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE (1947) The increased weight cut several knots off her speed. Her wheelhouse was rebuilt, and instead of a flat roof, she had a dome with a flagpole. This was unique among Columbia River steamboats. The rebuild cost a total of $86,000.

Following the rebuild, the Potter's owners put her on the run from Portland to Ilwaco, Washington for connection with the narrow-gauge Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company, serving primarily the summer tourist trade.Feagans, Raymond J., The Railroad that Ran by the Tide, at 49 and 80-81, Howell-North Books, Berkeley, CA (1972) {{ISBN|978-0-8310-7094-6}}.

The Potter was refurbished in 1910, and continued in operation on the Portland–Ilwaco run. In the early 1990s, Professor Frederick Bracher recalled riding on the Potter from Portland to Ilwaco as a young child in 1915:

{{Cquote|The T.J. Potter was an old but comfortable sidewheel steamboat, ponderously slow, even when going downstream. Although it was later replaced by the Georgiana, a sleek and narrow twin-screw steamer, I preferred the T.J. Potter to the smaller and faster rival. The monumental semi-circular paddle boxes, painted like the rays of the rising sun, arched up as high as the boat deck; the paddle wheels produced a prodigious wake to port and starboard, as well as astern. On the main deck were staterooms for the elderly, the rich, or the newly married; and a continuous seat ran all the way around the stern. If the weather was good, there would be deck chairs on the open afterdeck, and the glass-enclosed lounge cabins were comfortable on cold or rainy days.Braucher, Frederick, Reminiscence - Going to the Beach, pages 168-69, 93 Oregon Historical Quarterly No. 2, Oregon Historical Society (1992) ISSN 0030-4727.}}

Image:T J Potter steamboat folk art model.JPG

Just before the opening of the tourist season in 1916 the Potter was condemned for passenger use. The Potter was not replacedProfessor Bracher's mention that the Georgiana replaced the Potter refers only to the run from Portland to Astoria. No other boat ran directly from Portland to Ilwaco after the Potter's retirement. on the Portland–Ilwaco run, as there was insufficient passenger traffic to justify putting a new boat on the route. The Portland–Astoria route was continued until 1936, when heavy profit losses removed the Georgiana from service.

The Potter then served as a barracks boat for construction crews until Nov. 20, 1920, when her license was revoked. She was abandoned on the northeast side of Youngs Bay near Astoria. She was burned and salvaged for her metal shortly afterward. Faber publishes a photograph showing her abandoned, stripped of upper works, but with her hull substantially intact, with large metal components such as her rudder strap intact. (Faber, at page 155).

The T. J. Potter has heavily deteriorated over the past 90 years. All that remains are the parts of most of the ribs as well as the keel.

File:TJ_Potter_remains_1957.png]]

Image:Remains of T J Potter on northeast shore of Youngs Bay, Astoria, OR, 2012.jpg

{{reflist|2}}

• [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/transportation&CISOPTR=721&REC=5 T.J. Potter at wharf of Oregon Improvement Company, sometime between 1888 and 1901.] This photograph shows well the T.J. Potter before reconstruction including the ornate paddlewheel boxes.
• [http://content.statelib.wa.gov/cdm/ref/collection/skamania/id/933 T.J. Potter on the Columbia River. Photograph from the private collection of Jeff Moore, Stevenson, Washington.] Skamania County Heritage Collection from the Stevenson Community Library, Fort Vancouver Regional Library System.

{{OR&N Co Steamships}}

{{Steamboats Pacific Northwest}}

{{Mosquito Fleet}}

{{Puget Sound sidewheelers}}

{{Ilwaco Navigation Company}}

Category:Paddle steamers of Oregon

Category:Ships built in Portland, Oregon

Category:Steamboats of the Columbia River

Category:Sidewheel steamboats of Washington (state)

Category:1888 ships

Category:Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company